So who thought it would be a good idea to drive to Florida? What a dummy!
We started on the trip yesterday. We got on the road about noon, as scheduled. So that was good. We got a free upgrade to a minivan, which was probably good. (Not my dream vehicle – but loads of room for the girls.) Then the luck sort of ebbed.
I got a speeding ticket as soon as we crossed over the Wisconsin. I totally deserved it. I may have been able to talk my way out of it – being less than an hour in a rented car and just getting used to it – if I hadn’t been on the phone. I will give the cop credit for not asking if I knew how fast I was going. (I didn’t but I had some idea.)
Next it started snowing in Tomah. The blizzard started about 40 miles later. They closed schools in Madison about 2 hours before we got there. We were averaging about 40 miles an hour on the highway. I couldn’t read the signs. (Should have used that excuse with the ticket!)
Nearly 8 hours to get to Chicago – that’s an all-time worst record.
But once we got there bbq ribs were waiting and a cake to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. And it was fun to see the cousins. And now it’s 8:00 and we’re already in a new state. I’m not driving. SO that’s good. Mifi is working. So that’s good. And we have plenty of gas. So that’s good because I think you can enjoy Gary Indiana just as much from the car. It seems pretty industrial – and not in a glamorous oils refinery/Emerald City way. Just trains and power lines.
State Count: MN, WI, IL, IN
Filed under: Alaska
Sunday was our last full day in Anchorage. So we made the very most of it! We headed north towards Mt McKinley. The day was perfect. It’s was crystal clear – and not really cold.
We could see Mt McKinley nearly the whole drive. From a great distance is looks like a small floating mountain. But I suppose that’s really just the top above the clouds. The weather on the mountain can be -22 F in the summer!
We drove through Wasilla – but we weren’t able to see Russia. Maybe we didn’t look hard enough. We did see that while the setting is beautiful, Wasilla isn’t the most attractive town you’re ever going to meet. We drove through to get to Talkeetna, which is near-ish to the Denali State Park. I say near-ish because really I just couldn’t get over how large Alaska is. From Talkeetna we had an amazing view of Mount McKinley. It was pretty spectacular. We also stopped into the Denali Brewing Company tasting hut. The beer was very good and the guy working there super friendly. Especially after it was established that his dad was Irish.
On the way back we saw a moose. John, who is kind of a fearless driver, stopped on the highway and backed up so that we could get a good picture of the moose. Very fun to see!
Eventually we made it back to Anchorage. Had a very nice dinner and saw a band. All in an effort to be tired for the plane ride home the next day. The plane ride is about 6 hours.
Filed under: Alaska
On Saturday I did a quick walk in the morning to see the sunrise. It’s not like you have to wake up early for it – sunrise sort of started at 8 am. But it was nice to get out and see a little patch of the city. I think people thought I was a little crazy; it was 14 degrees and it’s very slippery. A few folks stopped to kindly ask if I needed a lift. (Anchorage will not be winning any plowing or shoveling awards any time soon – but then I guess I could see losing interest in upkeep. I read that they’ve had 7 feet of snow this winter!) (Nearly forgot to add that I included the shop sign for my Scrabble friends – Oomingmak: The Qiviut Shop.)
One of the best things about a totally surprise trip to someplace great like Alaska is that you don’t really over prepare – or have any preconceived notion of what it will be like. So on Saturday when Bill suggested we head south I must admit I didn’t really know where we were going. We were originally headed to Seward – but took a detour to Whittier.
Whittier is about 60 miles from Anchorage. It’s on the west side of the Prince Island Sound, which may sound familiar because the Valdez port is on the south end of the Sound. In 1989, it was the location of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Whittier is not really that close to Valdez (as in we weren’t tempted to make the extra drive) but it gives you an idea of the geography. One cool thing about Whittier is that you have to take a one-lane tunnel to drive there. So there’s a schedule sort of like a drawbridge. The tunnel is 2.5 miles long.
Also Whittier had more snow than I have ever seen in one place. There were piles of it – I didn’t do a great job of capturing it – but it seemed like there were 10-15 foot banks everywhere. And the snow was blue – glacial blue, I guess. Except for the snow – the town could have been in West Cork. There was a harbor – where we saw otters and maybe a seal. I took a picture – knowing from experience that it wouldn’t really turn out – but I’m including it. We stopped at a pub/hotel for a drink – and even once inside it seemed kind of strange to me that the bar staff didn’t have Irish accents. The total bonus was that I got carded! It was a really nice place – we were kicking ourselves that we hadn’t thought to check out of our other hotel before heading out.
The town was a little sleepy in February – and there was at least one big Scooby Doo-esque abandoned hotel/asylum-place – but you could see the potential for summer! (And we enjoyed it even in Feb.)
Filed under: Alaska
You know you’re in a pretty city when the coastal walk also boasts some beautiful views of the mountains. While much of the day was spent working – we did get out for a nice walk. Because it’s February, we didn’t see a ton of actual coast – well at least in terms of water or sand. But the views are spectacular. And we could see one hearty boat trying to get to the dock.
We walked down the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. The trail is apparently 10 miles long – although we didn’t go nearly that far. One of my highlights was the moose warning sign. Lots of good advice on keeping away from moose – but of course that sets up an expectation. We didn’t see one – but we have two more days. The trail sort heads from downtown towards the airport along the coast. The homes that we passed were amazing. It’s a shared path for walkers and cross country skiers.
Also – lots of fun little urban art outbursts on our various walks.
Day one of Alaska was a lot of time inside a windowless room, which wasn’t half as bad as it sounds since the people were so friendly. I’m hear with John and Bill as part of a team to talk about broadband. So today we worked a conference and talked to people about their own technology use and set up. Then about 3:00 we finally got to see the sun. We arrived the night before around 9:00 – in the dark. And the conference started at 8:00 this morning, which is a little earlier than sunrise in Anchorage in February.
The weather is actually not very cold – probably about the same as home, hovering around freezing. (Academic freezing, not really cold freezing.) But Alaska got all of the world’s snow this year. There are piles of it everywhere and folks have said that much of it has melted in the warm up they’ve been having. But it made for a very pleasant walk. We walked towards the water and then towards the mountains. It’s very beautiful – although with all of the buildings, the pictures don’t really do justice.
The town itself is not very big.
We also visited the museum, which was kind of cool. It was nice to see the history, which we didn’t get much time to prep for the trip. The art was beautiful. There was an exhibit of faces who had climbed Mt McKinley. We thought they were going to be before and after faces – but they were just afters. But they were cool anyways. Amazing to see the difference between the skin that was covered by goggles and the weathered faces that clearly did not have enough protection.
Also in anticipation of comments – I will try to get a picture of me outside to prove I was here. But I’m a much better as photographer than photographed!
Filed under: St Paul
It’s been a funny winter. It’s February 1 with predicted temperatures in the 40’s! I think we’ve had 8 genuinely cold days all winter. So we were glad to get out and enjoy the Winter Carnival Ice Sculptures before they melted.
For readers outside of our area… St Paul has celebrated a winter carnival since 1886. It’s happens over the last week of January and first week of February. It is kind of a fun gage of weather. Like trick or treating, I can always remember the weather for Winter Carnival events. Last year it was cold and snowy. And while this winter has been warm, it was kind of chilly when we were looking at the sculpture – but I think that kept the crowds down – or rather moving. I suspect lots of people came to see the art – but hustled right through and didn’t linger.
We saw a few of the sculptures being made, which is always fun. The range of sawing tools, and melting tools and detailed tools and axes is kind of amazing. The sculptors generally appear to be dressed for the weather – in fact I’d like to know where the get some of that fleece – but it seems that inevitably there’s a time when you have to take off the gloves and use your hands. It’s cold work. But as the pictures demonstrate – it’s worth it. The hard thing is that the sculptures are particularly beautiful in the sun – but harder for me to capture on film.
Oh added extra bonus (for us) this year’s Winter Carnival was the Beer Dabbler – think outdoor wine tasting with great bands – except swap out the wine for beer.
Filed under: St Paul
Last year we went to the Red Bull Flutag – and I will give it to those guys – they know how to do it big! This year they have brought the Ice Crash Course to St Paul. The Ice Crash Course is 1300 feet of a downhill ice skating race track. It is hardcore. Aine and I went to check out the course this afternoon. I don’t’ know what I was expecting, but I completely forgot that Red Bull does things big.
The course starts at the Cathedral and winds down across Summit and down towards downtown. It is sheer ice. And it’s very steep in places (both going up and down) and there are a lot of intended bumps. In a million years I can’t understand why anyone would want to skate down it – but I’m now seriously tempted to go back to watch it!
Filed under: Minneapolis
I’ve been very negligent with updates but I did two fun things I wanted to post about today – first the Art Shanties. The Art Shanty Project is a collection of arty ice fishing houses. I don’t know the rules but it seem like you just have to have something that will last out on the lake. Some include ice fishing holes; many don’t. Some include heaters.
For folks outside Minnesota (or other cold parts), some people around here like to fish in the winter by drilling a hole in the ice of a frozen lake. They like it so much they have houses they can put around the hole. Some folks have huge mansion type ice fishing houses and they usually include heaters – because the ice is generally so thick around here by this time of year, it’s safe. This year has been unseasonably warm. It was 50 degrees earlier this week. So we were worried about the Art Shanties – but they got permission from the County to move forward. And on Wednesday it got cold. Today it was about 10 degrees when we were out there.
Due to the earlier warm weather, the shanties are much closer to shore than in the past, but that’s OK. There were a couple dozen I think. They are very cool (no pun intended)and the artists who create the shanties are generally pretty friendly and are happy to tell you about their project and they might even have an interactive component to the shanty. Here are a few brief descriptions of some of the shanties:
- Basketball Shanty – has a baseball hoop set up with bleachers and a score board outside the shanty. Inside the shanty is a locker room with the smallest lockers I’ve ever seen. The artists bought them on eBay and apparently they were in a school. The only graffiti we saw said “ACE ‘79”. The artists thought that it was probably a kid named Ace. I pointed out it could be an Ace Frehley fan.
- Robot Reprise – giant robot – think transformer in looks – shoots rocket-like fireworks. Need I say more?
- Reflection Shanty – include a glass wall (well not glass, but transparent and very clear/clean wall) and a few mirrored walls. Very calm – beautiful view of the frozen lake.
- Fort Shanty – don’t think army. Think card table and all of the blankets in your house – plus a few cubbies.
- ICE-Cycles Shanty – ride a bike around the like! Include at least one bike with an ice skate for a wheel.
- Nordic Village Bridge – bill goat clothing for you, a bridge, a troll – be sure to have a fast answer to get by is all I can say.
- Camera Head: Invert Your World – very cool idea where they have head-mounted camera obscura. Look through and see everything upside down. (Cemented lessons we learned about camera obscura in Scotland.)
- Monsters Under The Bed Shanty – very cute inside and out, inhabitants are monsters. They asked Aine to give a monster description to their sketch artist.
- SitandSpinShanty – This has to be a crowd favorite. It looks like an ornate egg. You go into it and it’s like the tilt-a-whirl. You turn the wheel, it spins. The artists mentioned that it took a lot longer than they expected, but it’s cool. I took a quick video from inside, which I actually wish was longer – and I rarely wish that.
- Letterpress Shanty – another cool one. They have a working letterpress and will be creating a newsletter/newspaper each day based on Tweets they receive online and pen and paper Tweet on site. Aine and I each made a postcard. It’s very cool to see how the presses work – and amazing to think what was involved in spreading the news back when they used them.
Filed under: Minneapolis
On Saturday December 17, Aine and I attended a Posada – or at least a modified version of the Mexican Posada hosted by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (St. Paul’s Lutheran 2742 15th Ave S, Minneapolis). Spanish for lodging, Posada is a traditional festival celebrated in Mexico for nine days leading up to Christmas where community members walk door to door with actors portraying Mary and Joseph as they seek shelter.
The Minneapolis version lasted for one night, starting at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church where community members were invited to prepare for the parade by making lanterns to hold candles and viewing a bilingual performance of bible stories leading to Mary and Joseph seeking a safe haven. From the church, the procession went door to door seeking shelter and was turned away by church neighbors (or at least the minister enacting the parts of the neighbors) until returning once again to the Church, where they were invited to stay. Once in the Church there was a brief, musical ceremony that ended with the addition of a well-behaved Baby Jesus. Following the ceremony were games, food and a great party. It is an interesting firsthand glimpse at what it must have been like to go from inn to inn before settling in a stable for the night.
Virginia Salgada, originally from a small town in Mexico, now residing in Minneapolis, explains that in her town the festival would involve 17 home each night; 16 homes would turn away the procession and the final home would invite them in to celebrate. This happened for nine days; on the final day Jesus would be presented. Everyone in the town would join the celebration. It was one big family. The Minneapolis tradition is different. It’s too cold (even this year) to want to walk so far and the attendees do not necessarily know each other but the sense of community is strong and the celebration is still based in music.
The Posada has been celebrated in the area for several years. Originally the production was done in tandem with the Heart of the Beast Theater; this is the second year it has been performed solely by the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church community. Reverend Patrick Cabello Hansel has been reaching out to the Latino population around St. Paul’s Lutheran Church since 2005. The Posada is one example of the emerging Latino community bringing a new look and new perspective to a Church that has been serving the community since 1872.
Filed under: Chicago
It seems like our time in Chicago was particularly quick this year. We headed out in our convoy on Wednesday. We stayed in Madison with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Billy Wednesday night. Then Thursday we headed to Chicago. We ate at our usual place – which we seem to find by looking for the place we think is our usual place but is not as easy to find. Then we had a great dinner with all of the fixings – including two turkeys (one baked, one deep fried) and a ham. Really I could give up everything except stuffing, ham and pumpkin pie. Luckily everybody seems to like different things.
The day after we went to a gym full of trampolines. It was very fun – but two days later I can still feel it. We were there for two hours and I’d say most of the grownups jumped for at least an hour. That’s a lot of bounce. That night the grownups headed to a really nice dinner at Al Dente. It’s a chef owned restaurant with a Mexican/Lain flair. Then the less mature of the grownups headed out. It was very fun but I totally lost my voice. To be fair, I has been skating around a cold all week. A day of being so unkind to my body just brought the cold into full force.
Saturday some of us went to the Children’s Museum. Aine and Bridie seemed to enjoy it. They rarely get to call the shots so that was fun. Then we just hung out. Played cards and ate Chinese Saturday night. Then we got up at the crack of dawn to drive home, which didn’t seem like such a good idea at the crack of dawn – but now that it’s 12:30 and we’re back in St Paul it seems like a great idea.
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